


Easy, Chickadee

by ilovewrighting



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Ralphisco, apparently i write elongvibe now, cause i think i'm preferential to, elongvibe, is that what we decided on as a ship name?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 21:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17711918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovewrighting/pseuds/ilovewrighting
Summary: “So… if this is about making another upgrade to your suit, I’m gonna warn you, it will take more bribing than an extra shot latte with whip cream.” Cisco started.Ralph laughed. “No, no. I love my suit. This is definitely not about that.”Cisco’s eyes narrowed in curiosity. “So what is it about?” he asked, sipping his coffee.Ralph shook his head, his fingers jittering nervously. “You’re too good at arguing, you know that Cisco? Why can’t you ever let anything float past you, let it unravel by itself, hm?”Something about the clunky construction of Ralph’s dodge had it dawning on Cisco. Sounding completely scandalized, Cisco asked: “Ralph Dibny, are you flirting with me?”





	Easy, Chickadee

“Cisco! Just the beautiful hair I was looking for.” Ralph said, entering Cisco’s workshop and coming right up to loom over the other man’s shoulder. 

“Hey, Ralph, come on in,” Cisco said sarcastically. 

Ralph patted Cisco’s shoulder. “How’s my favourite guy?” 

Cisco narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. “Um. Good.”

“What are you up to?” Ralph asked, looking innocent, but Cisco was unconvinced. 

“Just working. Apparently I’m the only one who does that around here anymore.” Cisco popped his head up from the book he was combing through. “Oh no. I’m starting to sound like Harry. That’s not good.” 

Ralph snickered. “Very funny, Cisco,” 

Cisco bookmarked his page and stood to look Ralph in the eye. “Okay, what can I do for you, Ralph?” He crossed his arms over his chest and let his eyebrows raise. 

Ralph let his eyebrows knit together. “Me? No, I don’t want anything. I mean. Not that I don’t want anything.” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “I just wanted… to see you.” 

Cisco narrowed his eyes until they were little slits. “Well, here I am.” Cisco said, letting his arms open up, gesturing around his workshop. “What can I help you with?” 

Ralph opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. 

“Ralph Dibny? Speechless? You don’t say,” Cisco said smiling. 

Ralph laughed nervously. “Not speechless. Just trying to find the right words. How about you let me take you for some coffee so we can chat a little? Like you said, no one else is working so you may as well take a break from...whatever that is.” 

Cisco looked at Ralph suspiciously. “Okay… you alright, Dibs?” 

“Yep,” Ralph replied, but Cisco could see him wince a little at the nickname. 

“Alright, I guess I could go for some jitters. You’re buying?” Cisco clarified. 

“Sure.” Ralph said easily, “Coffee’s on me. Let’s go,” 

Cisco shook his head and wondered why Ralph was acting so strange. Nevertheless the two ended up at Jitters with two coffees on the table in between them. 

“So… if this is about making another upgrade to your suit, I’m gonna warn you, it will take more bribing than an extra shot latte with whip cream.” Cisco started. 

Ralph laughed. “No, no. I love my suit. This is definitely not about that.” 

Cisco’s eyes narrowed in curiosity. “So what is it about?” he asked, sipping his coffee. 

Ralph shook his head, his fingers jittering nervously. “You’re too good at arguing, you know that Cisco? Why can’t you ever let anything float past you, let it unravel by itself, hm?” 

Something about the clunky construction of Ralph’s dodge had it dawning on Cisco. Sounding completely scandalized, Cisco asked: “Ralph Dibny, are you flirting with me?” 

Ralph froze, speechless for the second time that afternoon, and probably the second time Cisco had ever seen him unable to conjure a retort. “Yes.” He said simply. “But you are making it very difficult, let me tell you,” 

Cisco blinked. “But you’re straight.” 

“Nope.” Ralph said, smiling. “You never asked.” 

“Flirting...With me?” Cisco stuttered dumbly. “Is this… are we on a coffee date?!” He asked, looking down at the coffees, with an accusatory glance. 

Ralph sighed. “Listen, if you’re straight I totally get it,” He raised his palms in surrender. “Didn’t mean to get the wrong idea. I just would have been mad at myself if I didn’t at least try,” 

Cisco blinked dumbly. His gaze flicked back and forth between the whip cream, slowly melting in his coffee, and Ralph’s face. “So... you wanna try what exactly…?” 

Ralph cocked an eyebrow. “Um. I could take you out for dinner?” he asked, unsure what the correct answer would be for Cisco right now. Ralph knew Cisco had just come off of a rough breakup, but Ralph also knew Cisco had a soft spot for romance. 

Cisco looked at Ralph as if he might grow another head at any moment. After what felt like a full minute of silence, Cisco threw his hands up in surrender. 

“Okay. Let’s go on a date, Ralphie,” Cisco got comfortable again, leaning forward and grabbing his coffee mug.

Ralph chuckled. “For real? Okay, when? Friday night?” He asked. 

Cisco bit his cheek nervously. Part of him still wondered if Ralph was punking him. “Friday night sounds great.” 

. 

The cortex buzzed with tension in the intervening days. 

Ralph and Cisco stumbled around each other like clumsy teenagers, bumping into each other and then apologizing profusely. 

“What’s up with you two?” Barry finally asked Cisco, after Ralph had spilled coffee on Cisco and Cisco had laughed it off. Ralph had gone to get Cisco some paper towels, and Barry had pulled Cisco out into the hallway.

“Nothing! Nothing’s going on. We’re totally normal.” Cisco smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

Barry shook his head. “Dude, you can tell me. What’s wrong?” 

“Okay look, it’s not a big deal, but we had a big fight the other night.” Cisco lied carefully to ever-nosey Barry “I yelled at him for coming into my work room and messing things up and we’ve been awkward since. It’ll blow over.” 

Barry looked unconvinced. “Just talk it out and try to get back to normal. Okay?” 

“Sure thing, Bar,” Cisco said, clapping Barry on the shoulder. 

Barry headed back into the cortex but Cisco waited around for Ralph to come back. 

“Dude,” Cisco started, when Ralph rounded the corner with an entire roll of paper towels. “You need to get it together in there,” 

“Me?” Ralph whisper-yelled indignantly. “You’re the one prancing around in those tight pants,” 

Cisco flushed red and looked down at his pants self consciously. “How I dress has nothing to do with this, Dibs,” 

“Oh ho ho, yes it does! You’re mad at me for being flustered, and yet you come to work looking like this,” Ralph gestured up and down Cisco’s body. 

Cisco scoffed, but couldn’t stop his mouth from twitching up at the corner. “Spoken just like a true man.” he said, tossing his curls back just to watch the way Ralph’s gaze trailed to his bouncing waves. Cisco couldn’t lie, a part of him loved the attention, even if it was coming from Ralph of all people. 

“Are you saying you don’t want to go out with me tomorrow night?” Ralph asked, stepping a little closer, and staring at Cisco’s lips. 

Cisco took half a step back, and ran his tongue over his bottom lip, nervously. “I didn’t say that,” he whispered back.

“Good,” Ralph said, his mouth turning up in a smile as he brushed past Cisco and back into the cortex. 

Cisco took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, and wondered how exactly he ended up here, flirting with private investigator Ralph Dibny. 

.

The next day in his workshop, Cisco was tinkering with his Vibe goggles absently. In his head, he was focusing on picking an outfit to wear on his date with Ralph. Even as he planned what to wear that evening, the phrase date with Ralph sounded foreign and strange. 

He was totally zoned out, munching on twizzlers when Ralph leaned against the entryway, knocking on the door frame. 

Cisco jumped and the twizzler that had been previously dangling precariously from his mouth dropped to the floor. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Ralph said, but grinned nonetheless. 

Cisco smoothed his hair down. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” 

“Excited for our date tonight?” Ralph cocked an eyebrow at Cisco as he stepped closer into the workshop. 

“Excited is definitely the word,” Cisco said, leaning back in his chair and looking suspiciously at Ralph. “Why, did you come down here to cancel?” 

“What?” Ralph asked. “No. Why do you always have to be so negative, Cisco?” 

“Oh I don’t know.” Cisco shrugged. “Probably because all my relationships end in disaster.” 

Ralph snorted a laugh. “Tonight will not end in disaster, let me promise you that,” He said, tracing a cross over his heart. 

Cisco shook his head at Ralph. “Whatever you say, Ralph.” 

.

“So when are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Cisco asked

“I told you, it’s a surprise.” Ralph said, barely glancing over to look at Cisco who was seated comfortably in the passenger seat of his car.

“What if I guess? Can I guess?” 

“I can’t promise I’ll tell you if you’re right,” Ralph said stubbornly and Cisco scoffed. 

He took a moment to look Ralph over. The taller man was wearing a patterned red button down, black slacks and a black sports coat. The red really made Ralph look handsome and Cisco had to remind himself to avert his eyes. 

“You’re such a douche.” Cisco said. He started rolling up the sleeves of his own dark purple button down. “Okay… are we going to Big Belly Burger?” 

Ralph made a hurt noise. “You offend me, Cisco. Really. Big Belly Burger? I’m a dumb man, but I’m not that much of a dumb man.” 

“Hey,” Cisco put his hands up in surrender, grinning, “I’m trying to keep my expectations on the low side,” 

“That’s honestly, probably for the best,” Ralph said, shrugging, but then glancing over to side eye Cisco. 

Cisco bit his lip, looking at Ralph from under his lashes. “Are we going to that little street vendor outside your office?” 

“Oh come on, really?” Ralph groaned. “Am I really this bad?” 

“Yes, you really are,” Cisco laughed, and suddenly, he could imagine himself leaning over and kissing Ralph. 

Just then Ralph jammed on the breaks. “Traffic up ahead… this time of day? That doesn’t make any sense…” 

Cisco leaned as far as he could to look at the cars in front of them. “I see people running… could it be Cicada?”

Ralph stretched his hand across the dashboard, wiggling his fingers. “Still got powers, so I doubt it,” 

“Let’s go check it out,” Cisco said, all but jumping out of the car. 

Ralph parked the car and Cisco ran off ahead. “Well, there goes date night, I guess,” He muttered to himself, jogging after Cisco. 

“Oh hell, look at that, Dibs,” Cisco said, turning and pushing against Ralph’s chest to get his attention. 

Ralph stared down at Cisco’s hand, curled softly against his button down, and then up to where Cisco was pointing. 

“That’s some bull schrap,” Ralph said, shaking his head at the sight in front of them. 

Gorilla Grodd was in the middle of the street terrorizing people. 

“You know he’s got mind control powers right?” Cisco asked. 

“Yeah, what you think I was born yesterday?” Ralph scoffed. 

“You didn’t know there were multiple earths okay, I’m just covering all my bases!” Cisco argued. 

“Man you guys will never let that go, will you?” Ralph shook his head, disappointedly. “A guy doesn’t know about the multiverse one time and he can never live it down,” 

Cisco pinched the bridge of his nose and resisted the urge to slap Ralph. “You know what? We can have this conversation later.” 

“Sure, thing, Cisco,” Ralph said, with a wink.

Cisco and Ralph fought Gorilla Grodd and soon backup from the rest of team flash arrived. It was a rough fight, but they had fought Grodd with an entire army. One sentient gorilla against a handful of superheroes wasn’t nearly as bad after a whole army of them. 

When all was said and done, Ralph and Cisco sat on the curb outside STAR labs. 

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to have our date.” Cisco said, patting Ralph’s knee. “Where were you going to take me?” 

Ralph looked up at Cisco with appraising eyes. “The honest truth?” 

Cisco nodded. “The honest truth,” 

Ralph sighed, and covered Cisco’s hand with his own. “I was going to take you back to my apartment and cook for you,” 

Cisco leaned back to look at Ralph a little better. “You were going to cook me dinner?” 

“It’s no big deal. I was going to make italian, you know. Chicken parmesan, pasta, garlic bread. I picked out a nice wine.” Ralph said, sounding dreamy. 

“Wow,” Cisco muttered. “That sounds like a really nice date actually,” 

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Ralph said, booping Cisco’s nose. 

Cisco giggled and shook his head at Ralph. “I’m sure you’re too tired to cook, but why don’t we still do that? Let’s get pizza or chinese or something and go have our date.” 

“You really want to?” Ralph asked, hopefully, looking up at Cisco with a smile. 

Cisco nodded and squeezed where his hand still rested on Ralph’s knee. “I really want to.” 

“Let’s go, then,” Ralph said, standing up and hooking out his arm for Cisco to link his with. 

Cisco stood, interlocked their arms together and the pair headed off into the evening twilight to find some food and head home. 

.

Cisco and Ralph stood talking and eating at Ralph’s kitchen counter well into the early morning hours. 

By the time they stumbled into Ralph’s apartment the chinese food they had ordered was no longer hot. “I like it cold.” Cisco said, taking a forkful right from the container. 

Ralph fake gasped as his plate spun in the microwave. “Blasphemy. It’s so much better hot.” 

“I have no patience,” Cisco said, picking a noodle up and tossing his head back to drop it into his mouth. When he looked up Ralph was staring at Cisco’s throat. 

Ralph averted his gaze and Cisco blushed and the two made more friendly conversation as they ate dinner. Cisco leaned against the kitchen counter and asked Ralph to refill his wine. Ralph leaned closer to Cisco and brushed a strand of hair out of his face.

Some time after midnight Cisco caught Ralph staring even though they had been quiet for a few moments. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Cisco asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Ralph laughed. “I was just thinking, that if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were having a good time tonight,” He said, a small smile in his voice. 

Cisco smiled and looked down. “I am having a good time. Honest.” Cisco blushed and looked up at Ralph shyly. 

“And now I’m thinking I’d really like to kiss you,” Ralph whispered, his gaze shifting to Cisco’s lips.

Cisco looked up at Ralph with challenge in his eyes. “So do it,” He muttered, his chin jutting out a little toward Ralph, daring him. 

Ralph’s gaze locked on Cisco’s beautiful mouth, and without a second thought leaned over the counter to press his lips tenderly to Cisco’s. Ralph planted three chaste kisses and pulled back just a little. “You’re infuriating. You know that?” Ralph said against Cisco’s lips. 

Cisco smiled into the kiss and reached up to let his fingers ghost over Ralph’s jaw. “So I’ve heard,” Cisco replied, when they parted just enough to speak. 

Cisco leaned back farther out of Ralph’s orbit,resisting the urge to laugh at the hurt look that crossed Ralph’s face.

“Let’s put a movie on,” Ralph suggested. 

“Oh, my, what a line,” Cisco purred. “Sheesh. Let’s put a movie on. What next? Are we going to lookout point?” he teased. 

Ralph’s eyes flared at Cisco’s taunting. “You’re the one who can’t get making out off your mind, apparently. A movie is a perfectly normal date activity,” he argued. 

Cisco shook his head. “For me, maybe. For you? Definitely not. A movie is an excuse to get cozy on the couch so you can make your move.” 

Ralph arched one eyebrow. “You think I have a move to make on you?” 

“Of course. I’m irresistible.” Cisco teased, smirking at Ralph. 

Ralph came around the counter, stepping closer to Cisco. This time Cisco stayed where he was. He looked up at Ralph, a bright smile in place on his lips. 

“And modest too,” Ralph said sarcastically and Cisco giggled. “I love that laugh, it drives me crazy,” Ralph’s voice changed, suddenly low and hot instead of light and teasing. 

“Yeah? Do you?” Cisco asked, as Ralph slowly entered Cisco’s space. He brushed Cisco’s curls back off his shoulders with tender fingers, and Cisco’s pulse raced. 

“Yeah, I love it. You know… I’m tempted to make my move, like you said,” Ralph teased, leaning down to kiss Cisco’s jaw. 

Cisco hummed a nervous, high pitched, appreciative sound. “So make it,” 

“I am,” Ralph muttered, his lips working their way from Cisco’s jaw to his neck. “Is it working?” He asked, grinning into the side of Cisco’s neck, Ralph’s hands falling into place on Cisco’s hips. 

Cisco squirmed, giggling again. “Yeah. It’s definitely working,” he agreed, smiling, and pulling Ralph up, pressing their lips together.


End file.
